Immigrants Make Way To Suburbs, Small Towns

Look For Affordable Housing, Jobs, Safe Communities

Mirroring a pattern seen in some other parts of the country, many immigrants in Connecticut have moved beyond its urban centers in search of jobs, affordable housing and safe communities, bringing with them what local officials say are both opportunities and challenges.

Fairfield County remains a stronghold for immigrants, but they are increasingly spreading across the state, moving to the suburbs and even small towns, according to numbers recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of the approximately 446,000 immigrants in the state, about 22 percent live in Stamford, Bridgeport and Danbury, with Hartford and New Haven also ranking in the top five. Overall, the number of immigrants in Connecticut has increased just over 20 percent from 2000 to 2009.

"The trend for them is to move off to the suburbs, where there's new housing," said William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution in Washington. "It's a combination of jobs and connections, whether family or friends."

The new arrivals have helped boost local economies and revitalize downtowns. At the same time, schools that were once relatively homogeneous are scrambling to provide services to students from dozens of countries.

Norwich

Norwich, for instance, with a population of about 36,000, has seen its immigrant population double since 2000, to about 4,800.

Lee-Ann Gomes, a supervisor in the city's human services department, said the city has seen an explosion in immigration in recent years, especially from China and Haiti.

Gomes helped form a Newcomer Committee earlier in the decade to coordinate services for immigrants, who she said have "totally enriched our community." Assimilating the new arrivals, however, has put additional demands on both the local government and school system.

Norwich City Manager Alan H. Bergen said immigrants have helped the local economy, opening new businesses and patronizing existing ones. Voters recently approved a $3.6 million bond package to revitalize downtown by providing rent subsidies, code upgrades and low-interest loans, a process in which immigrants will play a key role, Bergen said.

Immigrants also bring a less measurable but very visible benefit to the city, he said.

"The new cultures give us an opportunity to re-create ourselves and become a city that is diverse and exciting," Bergen said. "It gives us a uniqueness other cities may not have."

The changes have been reflected at Norwich Free Academy, an endowed, independent school that serves Norwich and several surrounding towns as a high school.

James Landherr, director of research and strategic partnerships at the school, said 10 years ago there were 59 students there classified as Asian American, many of whom were born in the U.S. The school, which has 2,366 students, now has 146 students classified as Asian, most of whom were born overseas. There also are more than 100 students from Haiti.

In all, the school has students from 42 countries who speak 30 languages. Beginning, intermediate and advanced English language classes are offered and the school recently used a $23,000 grant to purchase a computer program to help students and their parents learn English.

"It's always a challenge," Landherr said of dealing with such a diverse population.

But the new students also have become part of the fabric of the school, he said. In cooperation with a community group, the school shows foreign language films once a month. And the academy is organizing a fundraiser next month for earthquake victims in Haiti.

Manchester

Without the influx of immigrants, the state and many cities and towns would have lost population in the last 10 years.

"From an economic development sense, it's clear that if Connecticut's population is going to grow, it will grow as a function of immigration," Manchester General Manager Scott Shanley said.

With a total population of 55,740, Manchester's immigrant population increased from 4,650 in 2000 to about 6,800.

"We benefit from it because it tends to keep our workforce younger, which is a positive for a community," Shanley said. "They make money and pay taxes."

In recent years in Manchester immigrants have opened a spate of businesses in store fronts downtown or in strip malls that may otherwise have been vacant.

Sheen Mathew, 36, grew up in India and moved to the U.S. five years ago, first working in New York, then moving to Norwalk, which has the sixth-highest number of immigrants in the state, including an established Indian community. He wanted to open an Indian restaurant and first looked at Fairfield County, but decided there was too much competition there already.

Mathew said he soon realized there was a growing Indian population in the center of the state. He and two partners opened a restaurant in Vernon in 2008 and five months ago he opened his own place, IndiGo Indian Bistro, in the Shop-Rite Plaza on Spencer Street.